Thursday, January 27, 2011

The very definition of a "bad day":

Charlie had a doctor's appointment yesterday, in Jackson. I think I've mentioned this before, but Jackson, MS is about 2 hours from where we live. It's kind of a long drive, but it's actually how long the kids nap, so sometimes it actually works out great. Because we had an in office appointment, I figured I'd be fine to take Davey with us. Joe had to work, and I'm already getting my parents to watch the kids Friday. I didn't want to baby bomb them. Plus, in office appointments are usually about 45 minutes long. No big deal if you've got snacks and a favorite book or two. Note to parents right here, that don't know it already: when taking your kids out of the house ALWAYS BE PREPARED FOR THINGS TO BE A BIG DEAL. Because it was a big deal. This is Charlie's 4th or 5th cast now (I know, that sounds awful, and she's got 2 more to go), and any time she's had one taken off or changed they've done it at the children's hospital and given her anesthesia. So I did not anticipate the cast coming off yesterday. But hey, thats cause for celebration. The cast was coming off right then and she'd have a month to be cast free and to just play and be. Worth the aggravation the kids were going through because they were getting sick of the stroller. We had to wait about an hour before they came in to take the cast off. They finally came in and had this little saw and warned me that it's pretty loud. Great. Charlie is terrified of loud noises. Davey's ok with most of them. But not a saw apparently. And I guess thats a justifiable fear. So here we go - the saw is cutting off the cast while both kids are purple in the face from screaming bloody murder. I can't hold Davey because I have to pin Charlie down. Awful. But it only took about 2 minutes. Still, 2 minutes of screaming = a lifetime.

But it's off:

I know what you're thinking. Thank goodness I had the presence of mind to snap pictures of my miserable children. I was thinking the same thing! We are so much alike...

After that she had some xrays, we looked at them with the doctor, and he said everything looked great! So now we just needed to go across town and get the brace she'd be wearing for the next month. Wait. What? This is my first time hearing about the brace. A brace that looks more constricting than any cast she's been in. And it's across town? So I have to put my screaming kids in the car, drive them across town, only to have to get them back in the stroller they now despise? You do it. I'm out.

Unfortunately that's not an option.

We go to the brace and limbs place and I got my miserable children (who were actually being really good sports by this point. proud.), put them in the stroller, walked up to the door, "We are closed for lunch from 12:00-1:00". It's 12:20. MOTHER OF HOLY, why? Baaaaaack in the car we go. Luckily I somehow had a stroke of genius to bring the laptop and a Baby Einstein DVD in case of an emergency. Emergency! Finally it's 1:00, we get in, and proceed to wait. The kids are still holding it together. Until we get back to the room to fit Charlie for the brace. They have officially had it. Davey is just a ball of snot and Charlie is being possessed by some demon I've never even heard of. A squirmy demon. I could hardly blame her. Oh, can I show you what this room looked like?

Plaster powder every where. The kids kept sneezing. It was insane. And a lot of babies go to this place. In fact there were 3 others in the waiting room. And speaking of 3, thats the exact number of COLLECTIVE teeth the staff at this joint had. You think I'm being ugly because I had bad day, don't you? I'm not. A dental nightmare.

We got home in one piece, and the kids were ecstatic to be home.

The brace looked worse than it actually is. She was still pretty stiff yesterday, understandably, but today she's moving like she always has. It's got more give to it than I thought. I guess I should've figured it would. It's plastic and foam. Look, I'm not a scientist.

i am KICKING myself for leaving out the funniest part of this story. i should go back and edit. oh forget it, i'll just type it here. as soon as the cast came off, the nurse said "ok you can pick her up!" and i immediately scooped up this poor, naked, crying, terrified thing. i'd say it took, um, .12 seconds for her to unleash about 2 gallons of pee on me. through my jacket to my shirt, down my jeans, IN MY SHOES. it was 37 degrees out too. im soaked in baby pee. i brought a change of clothes for them but not for me. im so under prepapred for pee catastrophes.

we live and we learn.

thanks betsy!

and rae, having nearby mommy support would be fantastic. but thankfully being able to type it all here and have sweet comments helps with the distance.

tara - yeah the brace is there to make sure all the good work we've done so far, keeps on working! the doc said theres a really good chance of it popping out of place so no cast, but we've got to wear a brace 24/7. but she can take it off long enough to get in the tub. i nearly cried when she so happily splashed around in the bath last night. like a fish someone was kind enough to take off of their hook and throw back in. after a rough day, a warm bath will make anyone happy. even little tiny charlie.

we cant wait to see you! david is HUGE (if you cant tell in pictures i just posted). he walked from the rocking chair to the kitchen the other day. walked. he's starting to walk. he's not super interested in it, but he can do it. because hes awesome.

o.m.g. just cried. cried at work. i'm so proud of him! he's so chilled i'm not surprised he's not got much interest in it right now but i'm sure that'll change soon. i bet charlie LOVED her bath! after not being able to for so long, i'm sure she was ready! that's just so much fun!

I'm a proud mother of twins and a proud wife of a man I loved before I even knew his name. After getting married and finding out twins were on the way, my husband and I moved to our remote house on the hill. Just on the edge of the Mississippi Delta, our home is far from the usual conveniences. I've spent the past few years trying to learn how to make everything I need for those days that driving 20 minutes to the nearest grocery is completely out of the question. And what good is an adventure in the kitchen if I can't share it with anyone? Hello blogosphere!